Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted its second-highest monthly revenue totaling NT$206.03 billion (US$6.57 billion) for last month on constant robust demand for its 3-nanometer chips used in iPhones, boding well as a sign that the chipmaker would hit its quarterly revenue target.
Revenue last month retreated to an annual contraction of 7.5 percent to NT$206.03 billion, compared with NT$222.71 billion. That represented a monthly decline of 15.3 percent from NT$243.2 billion in October, when its monthly revenue climbed to an all-time high.
In the first two months of this quarter, TSMC accumulated a combined NT$449.23 billion in revenue, achieving about 76 percent of the lower end of the chipmaker’s revenue guidance of US$18.8 billion. TSMC estimated in October that revenue this quarter would expand about 11 percent sequentially.
Photo: Reuters, Ann Wang
The Hsinchu-based company at the time attributed the revenue growth to strong demand for its 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer technology used to make smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) chips, providing a cushion to weakness in chips used in other applications due to a longer-than-expected inventory correction cycle.
TSMC is keeping a high utilization of about 90 percent for its 3-nanometer technology equipment during the current quarter, and the figure is to be elevated to about 95 percent in the first half of next year and rise even higher in the second half, an International Data Corp’s (IDC) projection on Thursday showed.
TSMC is benefiting from the rollout of new flagship smartphone processors by customers such as MediaTek Inc (聯發科), Qualcomm Inc, Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), who are to join Apple in adopting TSMC’s 3-nanometer chips during the second half of next year, IDC senior research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠緯) said.
Apple is to go one step further by using TSMC’s enhanced version of 3-nanometer technology for its newest A18 processor next year, Zeng said.
With a broader customer base, TSMC expects 3-nanometer chips to contribute a greater revenue share next year, compared with about 5 percent this year, the first year it ramped up production of the foundry industry’s most advanced process technology.
TSMC also plans to maintain a high equipment utilization rate for its 4-nanometer and 5-nanometer technologies for the entirety of next year at more than 80 percent, given the lofty demand for AI processors and AI accelerators, Zeng said.
To satiate customers’ strong appetite for AI chips, primarily from Nvidia Corp, TSMC is planning to more than double its capacity for advanced packaging technology, or chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology to solve its supply deficiency.
TSMC still faces a 20 percent supply gap to fill, Zeng said, adding that the supply constraints are to ease in the second half of next year, when TSMC is to complete its CoWoS capacity expansion.
TSMC’s CoWoS capacity is to surge about 130 percent to 32,000 wafers per month by the end of next year, up from 14,000, Zeng estimated.
That was an upgrade from an earlier estimate three months prior of 28,000 wafers, due to faster equipment acquisitions, he said.
The global semiconductor market is to resume annual growth of 20.2 percent next year to US$633 billion, up from US$527 billion this year, attributable to growing demand for AI-related chips, vehicle chips and a recovery of memory chips, IDC predicted.
This year would be a tough year, with the market size set to shrink 12 percent annually, the researcher forecast.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS